Reclaiming and conveying apparatus.



F. L. STUARl REGL/xmms AND 4cowvgml APPARATUS.

APPLICATIGN FILED DEC. I8. 191B.

HU TNESSES Si JMW SWAN. Rscmmm man imm-mm APPARAws. APPLICATIOW Hi BEC. H3 1918.

1 .l melma Aug. 19, 1919,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. L. STUART. RECLAINIING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I8. 1918.

'l $3 35 2 Paiented Aug.. 19, 19H?.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

CLI

F. L. STUAR'.

RECLMMING AND CNVEYNG APPARATUS.

n l APPLICATN FILED DEC, 51. 19H5. 'g aned Aug. 19,1919.

SHEETSvr SHEET 4.

sauren saiarus ramena euries.

FRANCIS LEESTRT, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRCT COLUMBIA, ASSGNGR TO INTER- NATXOL CONVEYQR CORPORATXON, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW` YORK.

RECLAMLNG AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

i ,stessa Application led December 1S, 1918.

I a citizen of the United States, residing at lllashington, in the District of Columbia,

have invented 'certain new and useful lmprovements in Reclaiming and Conveying Apparatus, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to apparatus forI gathering material, such as coal, from piles o1l places ot storaffe or supply and transferring it to other places, in which a plow,

scraper,`digger, or the like, gathers the material and transfers it to a conveyer, in turn delivering the material to a main conveyor belt 4which conveys the gathered material to its destination.

ln mylll. S. ltatent No. 1,271,493 of July 2, 19,18, l have shown apparatus of this general hind. rlfhis patent shows an apparatus in which a yhoorn conveyor is rotatably mounted at its vinner end on av truck, movable over a main conveyer belt, the outer end of the boom conveyer being supported by a tractor, by means of which it may be swung about its pivotal connection with the truck. On the frame of the boom conveyor is mounted'a truck carrying a digger, which gathers material andI delivers it to the boom conveyor, which in turn discharges the material through a hopper onto the main con- Iveyervbelt which carries the material to its result, brieliy stated, consisting of a winch or windlass associated with cables, or the like, connected in a novelgmanner with the gathering devices, and which may be so operated as to move the gathering means to any desired4 extent longitudinally of the .boom conveyor.

My Vimprovements are illustrated in the' Vanccompanymg drawings and will-be hereinafter more particularly described.

Figure l is a view in side elevation of ap paratus embodying some of my improve-- menta Specification of Letters Patent.

lwhich are parallel with the main conveyor Patented Aug. t9, 19M?.

.Serial No. 297,29.

Fig. 2^is .an end view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

F ig. l is a diagram illustrating how the apparatus may be operated to gather material on opposite sides of a main conveyor belt.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating how the same apparatus may be employed to gather material from a circular or annular pile.

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing how the 65 inner end of the boom conveyor may be supported whenthe apparatus is employed to gather material from a circular pile.

F ig. 7 is a side view ol a modified form of apparatus wherein the conveyor which de livers material received from'the gathering meansmay be operated -to discharge onto either of two main conveyer belts.

Fig. 8 shows diagrammatically and in plan the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 7 and indicates how it may be employed to gather materia-l from a pile located between two main conveyor belts.

Fig. 9 is a p lan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 7.' 80

Fig. 10 is an end view of an apparatus 1 embodying my improvements, in which gathering means is employed on opposite sides of the boom conveyer or the conveyor which delivers to the main conveyor belt or belts.

.Fig ll is a plan View of the apparatus shown in Fig. l0.

Fig. l2 is a diagram illustrating how the apparatus shown in Figs. l0 and 11 may be employed to gather material from a circular or annular pile.

Fig. 18 is a detail view showing how the boom conveyer may be supported pivotally at its inner end. y

The boom conveyer or reclaiminglconstruction to thatV shown in my patent of July 2, 1918 above referred to. It oomprises, generally, a frame a and a conveyer belt a operated by motor mechanism a2 mounted on the frame of the conveyer. At its vinnerend the boom conveyor is supported by a turntable B mounted on a truck C, the wheels of which traverse rails D belt E. The wheels of the truck are operated by motor mechanism F carried by the truck, and by this mechanism the truck carrying the boom conveyor may be moved to any desired position over the main con- .1.10

veyer belt. Material is delivered through the hopper G to the main conveyer belt, and the construction is such that the boom conveyer may be turned to any desired extent about its vertical axis while at all times delivering through the hopper to the main. conveyer belt. It may also be swung from one side ot the truck to the other so as to operate on either side of the main eonveyer. At its outer end the boom conveyor A is supported by a taetor .tl preferably of the caterpillar typei This tractor may be made to cooperate with the motor mechanism F on the truck C to move the boom eonveyer longitudinally relatively to the main conveyer, and it ma also be used to swing or turn the boom conveyor about its pivotal connection with the truck. On the top of the trame ot' the boom conveyer there are rails l( on which is mounted a truck L provided with a. hopper M delivering to the conveyor belt a', and the truek L supports the trame or housing N of a conveyer belt n, which delivers to the hopper M and receives material from gathering devices O. The belt n is operated by a motor fm, on the truck L and the frame or housing N is supported by a wheel or 'roller l mounted in a, f rame [f depending trom the under side of the ltrame N. The gathering device O is preferably in the form ot a scraper plow ot the kind shown in my U. S. Patent No. 1.271,(327 ot July 9, 1913. This scraper plow is prete ably made double-ended so as to gather material when moving in either direction longitudinally ot the boom conveyer.

In order to move the gathering mechay nism back and forth longitudinally on the boom conveyor or what may be called the intermediate conveyer, I employ, a. winch or windlass Q. prete ably mounted on the truck L and connected by cables or their equivalents to the gathering mechanism. Preferably the cables are arranged in the manner best illustrated in Fig. 3. As there shown, a cable Q extends trom the Winch or windlass Q to a pulley g on the inner end ot the boom and from this pulley the cable extends to a. point g2 near one side of the gathering mechanism where it is connected 'ith branches g3, q" the branch q4 being secured to the truclrL and the branch g3 being secured to the trame p ot the roller P beneath the frame or housing of the belt n. rlhe cable y on the other side oit the windlass passe-s around a pulley ([5 attached to the outer end of the t' 'ame of the boom conveyer and then the cable g is attached at o to branches Q7, QS, the latter branch being attached to the truck L and the former branch being attached to the frame p. The winch Q is operated by a suitable motor Q'. ln this way the gathering mechanism may with all neeessary'power be moved back and the gathering means forth over the intermediate conveyor a. and

may deliver gathered material thereto while the intermediate conveyer is continuously lvever is arranged at right angles to the main conveyor belt and the gathering meehanisni when operated nieves in straight lines perpendicular to the longitudinal axis ot the main eouveyer belt.. Fig. t illust-rates how has gathered material t'rom the end of the pile. lt is, ot' course, understood that after the gathering means has been moved to its full extent in one direction the boom eonveyeris advanced longitudinally ot the main Conveyer belt to move the gathering means int-o proper pose tion to removean additional slice ot material 'from the pile.

The let't hand side ot' Fig. LL illustrates how the boom convever may be set at ditferent angles to gather material :trom piles ot ditlereut shapes, but in this Aform of the apparatus the gathering means is always arranged at approximately right angles to the longitudinal axis ot' the boom conveyor. whatever may be the position of the boonrconveyer relatively to the main conveyor.

In Fig. l have illustrated the manner in which the apparatus may be employed to gather material from a circular or annular pile such as might be formed by a derrick arm operating from a pivotal eenter.

In Fig. 5 E indicates the main conveyer, but in this case the boom eonveyer instead ot being supported by a truck is mounted at its inner end on a stationary which it has a pivotal connection` which is best illustrated in Fig, (i where lt indicates a foundation into which the main conveyor belt E extends. On this foundation is mounted a turntable. lt end of the boom conveyor' is connected. The boom eonveyer may be swung to any desired extent about the axis of the turntable and delivers through a hopper G to the main eonveyer belt. y

Fig. 5 shows diagramuiatically how the apparat-us may be operated to gather material from a circular pile. Full lines indicate how the gathering means is operated support7 with to which the inner at one time to gather the material. while dotted lines indicate another position ot the. mechanism. It will be observed that in this oase the boom conveyor is moved to assume different angular positions, relatively to th;` mainreonvveyer belt and the gathering mechathe mechanism is substantially the same as that above described, and the mechanism when similar is designated by similarl refery ence characters. In this form of the apparatus the tractor H is omitted, and each end of the fra-nie of the intermediate conveyer is supported by a truck (l constructed and equipped'in the manner before described. This is 4practically theonly difference between the two forms of the apparatus and further description of the construction seems uni'iecessary. In this apparatus material may be gathered in the manner indicated in Fig. 8 from a pile 'between two main conveyers and the conveyer belt a 'may be moved in either direction to deliver to either of the main conveyers, or it may be reversed at varioustinies to supply both of-said conveyels. a

Fig. 10 illustratesa construction in which gathering mechanism is employed on opposite sides of the intermediate or boom con'- veyer. I have shown this moditcation appliedvtola 4boom conveyer supported at its outer end by a tractor in the manner-illus. ti'ated inl Fig. 1 and liereinbefore described. The gathering mechanism on opposite sides of the boom conveyer are of the saine con struction and when the construction is similar to that shown in Figs. 1 2 and 3 of the drawings the parts are similarly lettered. The cables q are operated bv a single winch Q and the' belts n are operated by asingle motor m. Inasmuch as this mechanism is similar in all respects to that before de scribed the connections and arrangements of the cables need not be further explained.

In the mechanism shown in ligsfl to U of Aermediate conveyer,and I jmake provision for such contingency by providing the intermediate or.boom conveyer with gathering means on each side, as shown in Fig. 10.

The desirability of mechanism of this kind will be' apparent by reference to Fig'.` 12, which illustrates diagrammatirully and in a manner somewhat similar to that shown in gathering means on one side of the boom conveyer may be operated to gather material from the foot of the pile, and then the boom conveyer may be swung over the lbelt E to bring the gathering means on the opposite side ofthe boom into operation as indicated by dotted-lines in Fig. 12. The same apparatus shown in Figs. 10 and l1 may be used to gather material in the manner indi-l cated in F igs. 14' and 5, but the apparatus shown in Figs. 10 and l1 has the advantages above specified.

Other foi-ins of gatherers of material may be substituted for those shown, and when I refer to cables it will be understdod that I includes ropes, chains, and the like. It will also be understood thatfwhere I refergto con` .veyer belts, other equivalent conveying By my improvements much of the strain on the mechanism which was heretofore 1n.-

cident to the reciprocation ofthe material about midway-between its opposite' en si@` In Fig. 12 T indicates a housing for protect-ing the main-conveyer belt the pile of material is being formed. f

I claim as my inventions 1. Apparatus for gathering, transferring, and conveying material, comprising a main conveyer belt, a truck movable longitudinally over `said belt. a boom conveyer supported at one end by said truck and mounted to sw'ing about a vertical axis-passing through said truck, a tractor for supporting the ouf-ter end 'of said boom conveyer and for swinging it abopt said vertical` axis,a truck movable .longitudinally over' said boom conveyer, a

iiio

gatherer 'of material suppoi'ted by said'last mentioned-truck and movable longitudinally j therewith and which comprises a frame or housinga plow and a'conveyer belt; a winch carried b v said lastfmeiitipned truck. and a cable extending from' said winch tb the first mentioned truck, aiid\ thence to the gatherer caryingtruck and also to the framel of the,

gatherer whereby the gatherer aud `its supporting truck may be moved longitudinally over the boom conveyerfwhatever be the angular position of the boom conveyer relativelyto the main conveyer.

2.. Apparatus for gathering, 'transferring .and conveying material, con'iprising :i main conveyer belt, a truck movable longitudibetween 'the' gatherer and the main conveyer belt, a truck to which the inner end of the gatherer is connected, a winch carried by` said last mentioned truck, and a cable operated by the winch andconnected to the gatherer-carrying truck and to the gatherer intermediate its inner and outer endslfor moving said gatherer bac-k and forth over the intermediate conveyer.

3. Apparatus for gathering, transferring and conveying material, comprising a `main conveyer belt, a boom conveyer delivering thereto, a gatherer of material t be conveyed, a truck to ivhich the gatherer is connected at its inner end, -a Winch on said truck, and a cable extending from the winch to the opposite ends of the boom conveyer fand which is connected also to the"l gatherercarrying truck and 'to the gatherer between its inner and outer ends.

L Apparatus forgathering, transferring and conveying material, comprising a main conveyer belt, a truck movable longitudinally over said belt, a gatherer Ofmaterial to be conveyed, an intermediate conveyer between the gatherer' and. the main conveyer belt, a truck to which the inner end of the gatherer is connected and which is movable longitudinally over the intermediate 'conveyer, a Winch on the truck, and a cable eX- tending from the winch to the opposite ends of the boom conveyer and which is connected also to Ythe gatherei-carrying truck and t0 the gatherer intermediate its inner and outer ends. e

5. Apparatus for gatheringktransferriixl and conveying material comprising a mai conveyer.. belt, a truck movable longitudinally over said belt, a. gatherer of material to be, conveyed comprising a. frame or hous`| ing, a plow, and a conveyel` belt, means for wheel support-ing the gatherer betweents inner and outer ends, an intermediate conveyer between' the gatherer and the main cenveyer belt, a truck to which the inner end of the gatherer is connected and which is movable longitudinally over the intermedia-te convcyer, a winch carried by the truck, and a cable operated bythe winch and connected to the gatherer-carrying truck and 'to the gatherer in close proximity to its wheeled support. l

6. Apparatus for gathering, transferring and conveying material, comprising a main conveyer belt, a boom conveyer pivoted at one end' to move aboutl a vert-ical axis and delivering to thel main conveyer, a gatherer pf material to be conveyed on each side of the boom conveye and which deliver there- ,t0, a wincln'and cables connecting the winch with said gatherers to move them longitudinally vover the boom oonveyer.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name,

` FRANCIS LEE STUART.

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